Saunders's tern in St Lucia.

Saunders's tern in St Lucia

​There was much excitement the last couple of days with the discovery of a Saunders’s tern at the St Lucia estuary mouth tern roost. What makes the discovery so exciting is this is the first ever record of this bird in South Africa.


Saunders’s terns breed from the Arabian peninsula to Somalia. In non- breeding season however,birds migrate to the coastline of Tanzania and Madagascar. There was much excitement in 2019 when small numbers of birds were found to be regular at the San Sebastián peninsula in Mozambique. This is by far the furthest South they have been seen on the coastline.

​For those not familiar with the diagnostic features of the Saunders’s tern:

It is a tiny tern in the same size category of Little tern and Damara tern.

The tiny size of Saunders's tern when compared to other tern species

​It is most similar to the Little tern in appearance with the following features being the main difference in non-breeding birds such as the individual found at St Lucia:

Saunders’s tern has a more extensive white crown than the Non-breeding Little tern giving it a somewhat masked look.

The 'masked appearance of non-breeding Saunders's tern

Saunders’s tern have paler upper parts than Little tern

The pale upperparts of Saunders's tern.

​In flight, the Saunders’s tern shows more extensive black in upper primaries than little tern and a larger white area on the rear of wing compared to a narrow white trailing edge in the Little tern.

The extensive black in outer primaries and large white/pale area to rear of wings.

​Because of its close resemblance to the Little tern the Saunders’s may have ‘gone under the radar’ thus far and might be a more regular visitor than we think. Only time will tell…